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The American public remains deeply divided over Obamacare, but only 1 in 5 back a Republican plan first to repeal the law, then to come up with a replacement, according to a timely poll that says most people want Congress to have a firm alternative in hand before it pulls the plug on the existing system. The findings could boost President Obama and congressional Democrats, who have made defending the law their chief goal this year.
Anti-abortion activists hold a rally opposing federal funding for Planned Parenthood in front of the U.S. Capitol July 28, 2015 in Washington, DC. In a one-two punch, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday that Republicans plan to defund Planned Parenthood when they try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare.
President-elect Donald Trump is shifting the name-calling that helped drive his campaign victories over "lyin,'" "low energy" and "crooked" opponents to the legislative arena, where he's now mocking Democrats as "clowns" trying to escape blame for the nation's troubled health care law. "The Democrats, led by head clown Chuck Schumer, know how bad Obamacare is and what a mess they are in," Trump tweeted Thursday.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is set to meet Thursday morning with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus in an effort to heighten concerns about deficit spending -- even as doing so could imperil the Republican effort to immediately repeal President Barack Obama's health care law. Paul was the only Senate Republican to vote against a budget resolution Wednesday that would pave the way for Obamacare's repeal, complaining that it would also raise the deficit.
Kesha Wilson holds her 1-year-old son, Kamiyan Cooper, while family nurse practitioner Terrance James makes notes as part of an examination, at a county health center in Portland, Ore., in 2012. President Obama and Vice President-elect Mike Pence were both on Capitol Hill Wednesday, making competing cases for and against Obama's signature health care law.
Because the federal government is funding 95 percent of the cost of Medicaid expansion, Cooper called on hospitals to put assessments on themselves to generate the other 5 percent because they are "by far the largest beneficiaries" of any expansion. Cooper said he plans to file by Friday an amendment to North Carolina's Medicaid plan submitted to federal regulators to allow an expansion.
Hardening battle lines for the brawl to come, President Barack Obama urged congressional Democrats to "look out for the American people" in defending his legacy health care overhaul, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence stood firm Wednesday in telling Republicans that dismantling "Obamacare" is No. 1 on Donald Trump's list.  "We're going to be in the promise-keeping business," Pence declared at two separate Capitol news conferences.
North Carolina's new Democratic governor says he'll seek to expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama 's health care overhaul, even though a state law prevents him from seeking expansion unilaterally. A 2013 state law approved by former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and GOP legislators declares that North Carolina won't expand Medicaid and says the General Assembly must sign off on any proposal by state officials to do so.
AP FACT CHECK: Taking a swipe at "Obamacare" on Twitter, President-elect Donald Trump correctly identified two of its most pressing problems _ a spike in premiums and high deductibles Vice President-elect Mike Pence leaves a closed-door meeting with the House Republican caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Pence promised repeal of President Obama's health care law now that the GOP is in charge of White House and Congress.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence is welcomed at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, by House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis.
President Obama is traveling to the Capitol to give congressional Democrats advice on how to combat the Republican drive to dismantle his health care overhaul. Vice President-elect Mike Pence is meeting with GOP lawmakers to discuss the best way to send Obama's cherished law to its graveyard and replace it with - well, something.
When Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday, the Republican Party - which controls the House and the Senate and will soon see GOP President-elect Donald Trump sworn into office - will move quickly to repeal President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law. These first steps to unravel the Affordable Care Act have been years in the making, and will mark a symbolic victory for the conservative movement.
Democrats plotting a return from the political wilderness are facing their first big dilemma: how fiercely to fight President-elect Donald Trump. A new conservative era will dawn in Washington Tuesday when the next Congress, dominated by Republicans, is sworn in.
There's a joke among insurers that there are two things that health insurance companies hate to do - take risks and pay claims. But, of course, these are the essence of their business! Yet, if they do too much of either, they will go broke, and if they do too little, their customers will find a better policy.
A federal judge halted protections for transgender individuals that were found in the Affordable Care Act, issuing the injunction just a day before the safeguards would go into effect. US District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas halted the protections for their treatments and for abortion-related services, siding with the state of Texas against the Obama administration on Saturday.
Senior House Democrats are extolling the benefits of President Barack Obama's health care law in hopes of derailing Republican plans to gut the statute. Speaking to reporters Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the GOP will begin its "assault" on the law when the 115th Congress convenes Tuesday.
The stakes confronting Republicans determined to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law were evident in one recent encounter between an Ohio congressman and a constituent. "He said, 'Now you guys own it.
The stakes confronting Republicans determined to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law were evident in one recent encounter between an Ohio congressman and a constituent. "He said, 'Now you guys own it.
As Republicans prepare to make good on their promises to dismantle and bury ObamaCare, Democrats have settled on a strategy for a final defense of the controversial law: a conference call with reporters. In communicating indignation to their grassroots voters and donors, however, Democrats are passing on a means of effectively defending ObamaCare from the coming GOP onslaught.